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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25432396">The Ghost Knight</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibrarianLaura/pseuds/LibrarianLaura'>LibrarianLaura</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Waterparks (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Awsten + Travis' Slumber Party Podcast Submission, Death, Fanfiction, Ghost Stories, Ghosts, Halloween, Hallucinations, Horror, Psychological Horror, Psychology, Sleep Paralysis, Spirit Guides, Spirits, Spooky, ghostparks, graves, half ghost, haunt, paranormal activity, slumber podcast, tombs, waterparks fanfiction</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:34:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,027</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25432396</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibrarianLaura/pseuds/LibrarianLaura</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Awsten wakes in the middle of a bad episode of sleep paralysis, worse than any he's had before. As he shakes off the nightmarish visions, he quickly discovers his surroundings are not what they seem. He doesn't know why all of his friends have all stayed over at his house, or how the rest of his neighborhood has seemed to vanish without a trace. Most disturbingly, he can't remember the events of the night before. The only clues he has are the vague memories from the day of and a video of a newly discovered tomb deep in Houston's state park woods, that they may or may not have investigated in the dead of night. As his surroundings grow stranger and stranger, Awsten begins to wonder if he's losing his mind...or did they finally disrupt a spirit so sinister, so malevolent, that it changed Awsten's very existence on Earth forever...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Ghost Knight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/653230">You'd Be Paranoid Too (If Everyone Was Out To Get You)</a> by Awsten Knight.
        </li>

    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Awsten woke with a loud, pulsating buzzing in his ear.</p><p>Thinking it was a bug, he tried to swat it away. His arms wouldn’t move. Somehow, they were too heavy to lift. He opened his eyes and tried to sit up. His body wouldn’t respond either, paralyzed in his bed. From the corner of his eyes, he saw dark, humanoid shapes approach him from either side. As they leaned in, their gray, gaunt faces came into view. Ashened skin stretched tightly over their faces, sucking into their open, toothless mouths. Bulging, jaundice yellow eyes stared at him, unblinking. Expectant and waiting. Then, slowly, they all began reaching towards him with rotting, skeletal hands.</p><p><em> Wake up… </em> A thousand voices whispered to him.</p><p>Panic filled Awsten’s heart. He closed his eyes and tried to find anything else he could focus on. He couldn’t see or breathe. What was something he could feel? He realized he was clutching his bedsheets in his fists. They were soft and comforting.</p><p>With a mental yank, he found control of his body again. He sat straight up in bed, clutching his chest and gasping. Nausea churned in the pit of his stomach, and his head throbbed painfully.</p><p>The ghosts were gone.</p><p>He was shaking. His t-shirt clung to his back, sticky and damp. He drew his legs up to his chest, put his head between his knees and took deep, calming breaths.</p><p>Awsten wasn’t unfamiliar with sleep paralysis. He’s had episodes on and off again ever since he was a kid. He used to endure them on a near regular basis, but with the help of calming night aids and therapy, he was able to limit them to just a couple times a year. The hallucinations would always vary, from seeing things like his dead best friend watching him, or feeling things like insects crawl all over his skin. The hallucinations were always unpleasant and creepy but...</p><p>This had been the worst episode yet.</p><p>When his heart rate slowed down, he unfolded himself from his fetal position and began to take in his surroundings. Warm morning sunlight poured into his room. His bedsheets were in a twisted heap around his legs. He was covered in a sheen of cold, sticky night sweat. His headache moved to the center of his forehead, protesting the light. He untangled himself from his sheets and swung himself around to get out of bed and nearly stepped on his friend, Travis’ stretched out arm. He jumped back, surprised. </p><p><em> What was he doing here? </em> Awsten wondered. He couldn’t remember why he had spent the night.</p><p>Careful not to step on Travis, he tiptoed around him and made his way into the bathroom. He pulled out a bottle of Tylenol pills from the cabinet and popped two in his mouth. He turned on the sink water and drank straight from the faucet, then splashed his face a couple of times. The cool tap was refreshing as it washed away the sweat and sleep. He turned off the water, and examined his reflection in the mirror. </p><p>Heavy dark circles hung underneath his blood shot eyes, making his mismatching green and blue irises appear to glow in the contrast to his sickly pale complexion. His dark, sweat dried hair stood up in odd directions. A damp ring lined around the collar of his t-shirt. He looked like hell.</p><p><em> What happened last night? </em> Awsten tried to recall yesterday’s events. His memories were too fuzzy. He couldn’t piece them together.</p><p>He had a vague memory of the morning before. He had shared with his friends a video clip that had been trending on Twitter. He knew he had been excited about it, but he didn’t know why.</p><p>He went back to his room. He reached over Travis and unplugged his phone from the night stand. The time flashed on his screen. 11:11 a.m. He had slept in later than usual. A notification popped up on his phone. A text from his friend, Elijah.</p><p>
  <em>How was the tomb?</em>
</p><p>Awsten stared at the text. What did he mean by tomb?</p><p>He unlocked his phone and started looking through his text messages. At the top was Elijah's text. He opened it and scrolled through the previous messages. He found a message he didn't remember sending Elijah from yesterday, late afternoon. It was a link. In a separate text bubble underneath, Awsten had written "Gonna check this out tonight." He tapped the link. His phone shifted screens and opened up a webpage for the local news station. The link featured a clip of yesterday's broadcast. An anchorwoman sat at a desk with a small pile of papers in front of her. Hovering over her shoulder was a photo of a small dilapidated building in the woods.</p><p>“<em>Yesterday afternoon a pair of hikers had wandered off trail at Lake Houston Wilderness Park and discovered an abandoned building.” </em> The news anchor rattled off her report. <em> “A tomb, possibly dating back to as early as 1600s when the first Spanish Settlements began appearing. As you can see in the photo taken by the hikers, the tomb is in rough shape. Due to the fragile condition the tomb is in, historians and archeologists have asked the public to not disturb it so that they may excavate the site, and learn whom it may have belonged to. The hikers had this to say about it.”  </em></p><p>The screen switched and displayed their quotes. </p><p>
  <em> “‘We were surprised to find it. It wasn’t in any of the guide books we read. You can tell no one had been there for a while. We tried to get up close to it, but every time we did, we’d get chills and suddenly become overwhelmed with this awful feeling. We don’t believe in ghosts, but we both felt like something didn’t want us there.’” </em>
</p><p>They blew up the photo to fill the screen. It was definitely in poor shape. Wild ivy had grown up the sides of the walls, obscuring part of its gray stone from view. The back had caved in. The wooden oval doors had fallen off their hinges, most likely from suffering years of erosion and an infestation of termites. Chalky pillars stood on either side of the doorway, supporting an awning with a crack down the middle. Awsten wouldn’t have guessed it was a tomb if it wasn’t for the small, golden cross sitting at the top, glinting in the sunlight. </p><p>It was definitely cool and creepy looking. Of course, Awsten would have wanted to check it out. It wasn’t like anything he had explored before. He's walked through cemeteries, broken into abandoned schools, hospitals, homes and churches. For a while, he even used to carry a Ouija board with them wherever he went to play where ever he could, including an iHOP once. The tomb was an opportunity that Awsten would have wanted to jump on right away. Any tomb or crypt he had come across was usually in a cemetery, locked and gated from public entry. With the tomb on the news, there was a good chance that with the right kick, those doors could be knocked in. </p><p>He just couldn't understand why he didn't remember anything from last night. Did they actually go out to the tomb?</p><p>He looked at Travis, still fast asleep. He had borrowed some of Awsten’s blankets and a pillow, which means he hadn’t planned on staying the night. And it was even stranger that Travis was sleeping on his floor, rather than the couch. If they had gone to the tomb, then there was one possible explanation as to why Travis spent the night.</p><p>When they first started their paranormal investigations, they all agreed that if something weird happened, someone would stay overnight at their place. Just to be sure everything was okay by morning. There had been occasions in the past when there had been unexplained paranormal activity. Once, when they didn’t bother to close it out properly, bizarre activity started happening around the house. The dryer door started slamming shut on itself over and over again. The TV would turn on by itself, and rapidly flip through the channels. There had also been an overwhelming sense of a <em>presence, </em>a bad feeling that something was <em> there. </em>A dark energy that raised the hairs along your arms and neck, and made you feel like you were being watched. That something bad was going to happen if you lingered in a room for too long. Even on these occasions, however, no one would stay over. Everyone would come up with excuses at the last second, saying they had to work in the morning or had a doctor’s appointment they completely forgot about, but secretly, they wanted to go back to their safe, paranormal free homes.</p><p>But just because they had gone ghost hunting last night, didn't necessarily mean something weird had happened. Maybe Travis stayed over because he had a car problem, or he lost his keys while they were out last night. He didn't want to think about the possibility that something <em>did</em> happen. Traumatic enough to make Awsten forget what happened.</p><p>Goosebumps crawled up his arms and he shivered.</p><p><em> Maybe I just need to wake up more, </em> he rationalized. He was still feeling pretty groggy. A shower and a coffee was needed. He put his phone down, grabbed some fresh clothes and hopped in the shower.</p><p>A little while later, he emerged from the bathroom feeling refreshed, but his memories were still in a fog. He grabbed his wallet and phone off the nightstand, sent Travis a quick text that he ran out to get coffee. He left the bedroom door open a crack and headed to the kitchen. As he passed the living room, he glanced in and then did a double take.</p><p>His friends, Geoff, Otto and Jawn were spread out across the living room, all fast asleep. </p><p>Awsten felt a slight drop in his stomach. Did they go ghost hunting too? He pulled out his phone again and scrolled through his text messages. Awsten had invited them along too. </p><p><em> Jesus, </em> he thought. <em> What the fuck happened last night?  </em>He wanted to wake them up to ask about last night. They had to have remembered what they did last night. He couldn’t have been the only one to forget...right? It would have to be completely absurd if none of them knew. But if no one could...then something, maybe some vengeful spirit, had seriously messed with them. But if it turns out Awsten is the only one who can't remember, then it had only messed with him. He didn’t want to think about which would be worse.</p><p>His headache, which had dulled once the Tylenol took effect, was throbbing again. He decided he would deal with this once he got some coffee in him.</p><p>He slid on a pair of shoes, grabbed his keys and left, locking the door behind him. </p><p>He decided to walk to the Starbucks. It was just a mile down the road. He needed the warmth and the sunlight, to get his blood flowing and wash away the cold dread that had settled in his gut. Walking was good. It was a nice day outside. Houston summers were often humid and hot, averaging at 95 degrees throughout the day. Today, the city was hit with a cooler wave. The humidity had broken, and the heat dropped to a comfortable 80 degrees. He breathed in deeply, and allowed himself a small smile.</p><p>It was almost noon on a Sunday. Everyone would have been home from church by now. Kids would be playing out in the yard or racing up and down the streets on their bikes. Adults would be mowing the lawns, tending to their gardens, or hanging the laundry out back. The smell of grilled food would be wafting through the air. On a day like this, every one would have been outside.</p><p>But today, it was quiet.</p><p>He slowed his pace. He looked around, and with a creeping realization, he saw that no one was outside. </p><p>The street was completely deserted. </p><p>He stopped and spun around in the spot. There was not a single person, or even an animal, out on the streets. He strained his ears, hoping to hear even a sprinkler in the distance, birds chattering in the tree tops, or the vague rumble of a plane engine taking off from the nearby airports. But he couldn’t even hear the sounds of cars whizzing by on the nearby freeway.</p><p>Everything was still and silent. </p><p><em> Maybe there’s a big church event, or something, </em> he thought, trying to reason with himself. He pulled out his phone to google it. He paused when he saw the time flash across the screen.</p><p>11:11 am.</p><p><em> No...that can’t be right, </em> Awsten thought. It was 11:11 when he woke up.</p><p>He held his thumb down and waited for his phone to unlock. The screen was stuck, frozen at 11:11am. He tried holding down the lock button, to shut it down completely. The screen did not change.</p><p><em> Fuck </em>, he thought. His phone must have been broken. That was it. And everyone else was probably just that a church event he didn't hear about, or just forgot, like he forgot what happened last night. It didn't explain why the birds weren't chirping or why he didn't hear the usual bull dog barking through the fence whenever someone passed by.  But there had to be someone at Starbucks. Even the religious population of Houston, Texas agreed that God himself could not rest on a Sunday without coffee. With that hope in mind, he tucked the phone back in his pocket and started walking again. </p><p>Suddenly, there was a face in the corner of his eye.</p><p>He turned around.</p><p>There was no one there.</p><p>Awsten rubbed his eyes. It was probably just a weird bush or tree, he decided. Sometimes he’d feel anxious or paranoid throughout the day after a bad episode of sleep paralysis. On rare occasions, would even see glimpses of the visions from the episode throughout the day.</p><p>He could have sworn he saw the same pair of yellow eyes.</p><p>He shook off the feeling, reminding himself it was just a trick of his mind, and continued on. </p><p>After a couple minutes of walking down the still and empty street he began to feel his anxiety creeping up again. His flip flops echoed in the silence, the sound bouncing off the brick homes on either side of the street. But there was something else no quite right. Was it getting brighter outside? He blinked. Then, suddenly, he realized what he was seeing.</p><p>The neighborhood was changing color. No...not changing...<em> fading. </em> It was becoming duller, less vivid and unsaturated. </p><p>He stopped to rub his eyes again and again until white static appeared behind his eyelids, unable to believe what he was seeing. Was he going color blind all of the sudden? Was that even possible? He looked in every direction, blinking rapidly as he watched the color drain from the world, when he glanced down at his feet and noticed something else. </p><p>He wasn’t casting a shadow either.</p><p>Icy fear trickled down his spine. </p><p><em> This is a dream. </em> He told himself. It had to be. It was the only logical explanation.  </p><p>
  <em> Unless... </em>
</p><p>Awsten thought back to this meditation he had been practicing for a while. A couple years ago, he had begun research astral projection, an out of body meditation experience. People who say they have achieved it claim to have visited different worlds and planes of existence. He achieved it once for about 5 seconds. He could feel himself float upwards, like a feather caught in the wind. He had turned around, just for a brief moment to look below him. For some reason, he hadn’t expected to see his body lying on his bed, motionless. He immediately panicked and slammed back into his body, and ended up throwing himself into a horrific sleep paralysis episode. A vision of several pairs of disembodied hands had started crawling all over his body, grabbing at his skin and clothes, pushing and pulling him into his mattress. It had been such an awful experience, he hadn’t tried it again since.</p><p>But perhaps at some point, when his mind was lucid enough during his sleep, he was able to slip into astral projection on accident. Meaning his body was back home in his bed. What else could it be? He took some deep breaths to calm his anxiety. But a new question popped into his thoughts.</p><p>How <em> was </em> he supposed to get back to his body?</p><p>In all of his research, he had forgotten to learn how to safely return to his body. Should he just walk back to his apartment? Would his body even be there? He didn’t recall seeing himself lying in bed this morning. He would have definitely remembered that. There must be another way. Other people who claim to have traveled to different universes couldn’t walk lightyears worth of distance in a single night. Maybe the trick was to picture being back in his bed, to <em> will </em> himself back into his body. Almost like pulling himself out of a sleep paralysis episode. His ac would be humming, pumping cold air into his bedroom. He’d have his sheets pulled up over his shoulders, and there would probably be a damp spot on his pillow from drooling in his sleep.</p><p>He opened his eyes. He hadn’t moved. He still stood in the middle of his neighborhood. Maybe if he just walked home...</p><p>Out of the corner of his eye, something shifted. He twisted around to look at it. </p><p>There was nothing there. And just like last time, he was sure it was the yellow eyes.</p><p><em> Fuck </em> , Awsten thought. Nervous sweat beaded at the base of his neck. Every story he had read about astral projection described pleasant journeys to different universes. No one had talked about anything like this. An off colored, ghost town version of his home city. The longer Awsten stayed there, the more he began to fear that this <em> wasn’t </em> astral projection. </p><p>So then...what was this? Where was he?</p><p>He should just go home. Maybe try to wake up his friends. He wasn't sure if that would solve things, but at least he wouldn't be alone. But what if his friends didn’t wake up? What if they <em> couldn’t </em> wake up? What if he screamed until his throat bled, would they even hear him at all? </p><p>Would he be lost forever...wherever he was?</p><p>He pulled out his phone again. The screen was still frozen at 11:11 a.m. He frantically hit the buttons, even shaking it a couple of times.</p><p><em> Please unlock, </em> he silently begged. <em> Please do something. Turn to 11:12 a.m. Just please, something help me get out of this - </em></p><p>“There you are.”</p><p>Awsten was startled out of his panic. To his left was an old woman. She definitely hadn’t been there a moment ago.</p><p>She was sitting on a bench, relaxed with her hands in her lap. She was dressed plainly - a white cotton dress and croc sandals. She had wispy, short cut gray hair and was shockingly thin. A strong breeze could have sent her toppling over. She lifted her chin and gazed up at him with milky blue eyes.</p><p>He didn’t say anything. He just stared at her.</p><p>She smiled and displayed a row of discolored teeth. “There you are,” she repeated.</p><p>Awsten blinked. “Um…”</p><p>The old woman struggled to stand up, her arm visibly shaking from the effort. “Don’t just stand there,” she snapped at him. Her voice carried a strength that didn't match with her fragile age.  “Come over here and lend me your arm.”</p><p>He hesitated. She <em> definitely </em> wasn’t there a moment ago. But he quickly decided he didn’t care. He wasn’t alone anymore. He ran over and looped his arm around hers, and a small breath of relief exhaled from him. With the weirdness of the day, he was somehow paranoid that he wouldn't have been able to touch her, that his fingers would pass through her arm like an illusion. He tightened his grip as much as he dared, and hauled her to her feet. She barely came up to his shoulder. </p><p>“Thank you,” she said. “And now,” she paused to take in a deep, rattling breath. “let’s go.”</p><p>“Where do you need to go?” he asked. He was happy to take her anywhere at this point. As long as he wasn't alone anymore.</p><p>She gestured to the street. “To the other side, of course!” </p><p>Awsten bit back a laugh. She just wanted to cross the street. Of course.</p><p>He began walking with her. She clutched his arm tightly with both hands. As they slowly crossed over the pedestrians lines, she kept up a light conversation.</p><p>“I’ve been waiting a long time you know,” she said. Her tone sounded like she was chastising him. </p><p>“I’m...sorry?” Awsten offered, feeling a little confused. Maybe she thought he was someone else. Her grandson, perhaps.</p><p>“I can’t tell you how long,” she said. “But <em> They </em> told me you were coming. And I am so eager to get home.”</p><p>The hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end. For some strange reason, he didn’t like the way she said <em> They. </em></p><p>“Do you live nearby? I could walk you home.” Awsten offered. </p><p>She laughed. Awsten wasn’t sure why she found it so funny.</p><p>“Oh no, I don’t <em> live </em> nearby. I used to though.” She chuckled, like she was sharing an inside joke with herself.</p><p>Suddenly he saw the eyes again. </p><p>“Something the matter, dear?” she asked.</p><p>He had twisted his whole body around, hoping to catch the ghost eyes this time. Still, they were too quick. He knew they weren't real. But that's what he thought before. With every other bizarre thing that was going on around him, the stillness of the neighborhood, his sudden color blindness, and the apparent fact his shadow wasn't casting on the pavement, even with the sun in full view, why shouldn't the yellow eyed gray face ghosts from this morning also be real? Were they somewhere near by, watching him, stalking him, hovering just in the corners of his peripherals? Too quick to be seen by the naked eye, darting away a split second before Awsten could turn his head, giving him just enough time to doubt his own sanity. What if they <em>were</em> real, and if so...what did they <em>want?</em></p><p>"Have you seen the yellow eyed people?"</p><p>Awsten whipped around and looked down at the old woman in disbelief. "You can see them too?"</p><p>“I did. In the beginning.” Her tone was cool and casual. “They can’t touch you. I don’t know why, but they’ve never been able to touch me. But don’t worry, they’ll leave you alone eventually.” She looked out into the distance. A shadow crossed her face, and her chalky eyes seemed to turned dark. He noticed a slight twitch in her jaw.</p><p>Awsten wasn't comforted that he shared the same visions as a elderly woman with cataracts. He needed to know more. “What are they?” </p><p>The old woman paused, lost in thought, her mind chewing on the question.  “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. And I've spent a lifetime trying to figure that out. I guess I gave up after while. But there was one thing about them that felt very clear to me."</p><p>He was almost afraid to ask. "And what was that?"</p><p>"They were waiting for something."</p><p>An icy shiver ran down his spine. He remembered he felt exactly that this morning when they were gathered around his bed.</p><p>He wanted to ask what she thought they were waiting for. He opened his mouth, which was suddenly feeling very dry, to speak when she halted in her steps.</p><p>They reached the other side of the road. Awsten was about to step on the sidewalk with her when she pulled him back with a surprisingly strong grip.</p><p>“This will do,” she said. She let go of his arm and turned to him.</p><p>“I must go on alone from here,” she said, solemnly. “Thank you so much for escorting me.”</p><p>“Are you sure?” he asked. “Can I take you anywhere else?” He was nervous to be left alone. Another face lingered in the corner of his eye. He didn’t try to look at it this time. </p><p>“Nope. This is my last stop.” She winked at him. “Good luck, kid.” She turned around and muttered to herself. Awsten almost didn’t catch it.</p><p>“<em> Alcántaran </em> Knights sure are clueless when they start.”</p><p>“Wait,” Awsten said. “What did you say?”</p><p>She stepped onto the sidewalk.</p><p>Awsten blinked.</p><p>She had vanished.</p><p><em> Where...where did she just go? </em> He tried to follow her and stepped on the sidewalk. He remained in his neighborhood. Alone with the faces.</p><p>He looked around again for signs of life. By now, his neighborhood had turned almost completely gray. The sky was no longer blue and now resembled the chalkiness of the woman's eyes. He looked down at his feet, expecting to not see his shadow. This time there were several, spanning out in different directions like a strange shadow wheel. A chill suddenly bloomed in the pit of his stomach, freezing over the hot panic that had been boiling there a moment before. That's when the eyes returned. Several pairs this time surrounded each corner of his sight. He squeezed his eyes shut.</p><p><em>STOP IT.</em> He wasn't sure if he was shouting or thinking the words anymore. <em>STOP IT PLEASE. JUST STOP.</em></p><p>He needed to get out of there. With his eyes shut, he started to run. Almost immediately, he tripped over the ledge of the sidewalk, slamming hard into the ground on his shoulder.</p><p>Suddenly, there was a screech of tires and a car horn blared at him. </p><p>He yelled and instinctively threw his arms over his face. He curled up in the fetal position shaking with terror and braced for impact. A few long moments went by. When it was clear to Awsten he wasn’t about to be run over, he looked up and saw he was face to face with the oversized bumper of a large truck.</p><p>An angry, red face trucker with a mustache and beefy arms was screaming, cursing at him. He revved his engine and sped around him. Awsten watched him speed down the street. </p><p>Just like that, the neighborhood was back to normal. Kids were playing out in the front lawns. He could hear the lawn mowers going. A plane flew overhead. He heard country music blasting from someone’s house. Something hit his face. A water sprinkler rained down on him. Color had returned to its full hue, bright and disorienting.</p><p>He lay frozen on the side of the street, reeling from the near death experience. </p><p>To his left, he saw the neighborhood’s women's walking group standing a few yards away from him on the sidewalk. One of them cautiously approached him.</p><p>“Hey, sweetie, y’all ok?” she asked in a deep southern twang. He could smell her perfurme, a powdery rose scent that wafted sharply into his nose. It made him nauseous.</p><p>“I saw what happened back there.” She continued. "We've already got his license plate if you need it."</p><p>Awsten didn’t know how to respond. "I...um..."</p><p>The women watched him with wary eyes. He knew he probably looked completely crazed.</p><p>The woman in front of him studied him. “You don’t look so good,” she said, gently. “You're as pale as a ghost. Do you need me to call someone for you?”</p><p>Awsten opened his mouth to say no when his phone in his pocket buzzed. He pulled it out. There were a string of texts and missed phone calls from his friends. He noticed the time.</p><p>12:54 p.m.</p><p>That. Wasn’t. Possible.</p><p>“Young man?” The woman asked him. He heard murmurs from the group. A few of them had their cell phones in their hands, and he could hear this whispering about calling 911. For an ambulance or the police, he wasn’t sure.</p><p>“I...I’m fine. I just…” Unable to inhale the woman's perfume anymore, he got to his feet. A wave of dizziness hit him and he stumbled.</p><p>“Whoa, easy, hon.” The woman caught his arm. “Why not we call someone for you?” He saw one of the women in the group already had her cell phone up to her ear.</p><p>Awsten shook his head. “No. Thanks. But no.” He realized she was holding on the same arm the old woman from before had held on to. He yanked it out of her grip. “I’m just gonna go home.” He turned away from them. As he passed the walking group, he heard one of them say, “It must be drugs.”</p><p>He texted Travis back. <em> Sorry. Omw. </em></p><p>He still felt cold all over. Probably from shock. He wrapped his arms around his torso.</p><p>His phone buzzed again. </p><p>Travis wrote back. <em> Where the fuck are you???  </em></p><p>Awsten broke into a run.</p><p>The door was unlocked. He threw it open. Travis, Otto, Geoff and Jawn stood in the kitchen. </p><p>“Dude, what the <em> fuck? </em>” Geoff demanded.</p><p>Awsten panted and clutched the stitch in his side. “Sorry,” he said in between breaths.</p><p>“Where have you been?” Travis asked.</p><p>Awsten shook his head. He had no logical explanation. Absolutely none.</p><p>“I...I don’t know.” he tried. “I went out for coffee but….” He suddenly felt nauseous and his legs threatened to give out from underneath him. A thick lump formed in his throat. </p><p>“Whoa, hey,” Geoff said, kinder now. “What’s wrong, dude?”</p><p>He didn’t say anything. He collapsed into a chair at the kitchen table and put his head between his hands. A moment later, a glass of water slid in front of him. He mumbled thanks and lifted it to his lips. The glass shook in his hands. </p><p>“I think...something’s wrong with me,” he said, after a long minute. “I just saw some really wacky shit out there.” That was an understatement. He buried his face in his hands and breathed in deeply.</p><p>“Wacky…how?” Geoff asked him.</p><p>“Um…” he took a shaky breath in and opened his mouth to say something, but closed it. He had no idea how to make them believe him, how to tell them what happened without sounding completely insane.</p><p>“We’ve been trying to get in touch with you,” Travis spoke up. “You’ve been gone for hours.”</p><p><em>"Hours?" </em>Awsten asked in disbelief. He looked around the room. Everyone's solemn expressions revealed they were in agreement.</p><p><em>There was no way I was gone that long, </em>he wanted to say. But he was outnumbered. “What time did you wake up?” Awsten asked instead.</p><p>“Around 11. I was the first one awake,” Travis said. “I looked over and you were gone. I got the others up, and after you didn’t respond to our texts or calls, we started driving around looking for you. Since you left your car behind, we didn’t think you were far. But we couldn’t find you. We messaged your sister to see if you were home, but she said she hadn’t heard from you.”</p><p>That didn’t make sense either. Awsten hadn’t even left his street while he was out. And he certainly didn’t see them driving around.</p><p>“Dude, what happened?” Geoff asked him again. “Where have you been?” </p><p>Awsten looked up at his friends. They each wore worried, strained expressions, and had dark circles under their eyes. They didn’t have a restful sleep either. There was no doubt that he owed them an explanation. He just didn’t know how or what to tell them. He could lie, but that might lead to more questions, and Awsten couldn’t conjure up a likely story that explained his bizarre absence. He could tell them that he met a friend for coffee...but couldn’t answer his phone? Awsten always had his phone on him. He could try and say he didn’t have any service, but that was even less likely since he would have been at a Starbucks. How what he supposed to tell them what happened if he didn’t understand it himself?</p><p>But...maybe his friends could help clue him in.</p><p>“Can you guys tell me what we did last night?” Awsten asked. “I’m...having trouble remembering.” A small pain pricked at the center of his forehead again. He rubbed at it absentmindedly.</p><p>“You...don’t remember?” Geoff asked, worried.</p><p>Awsten shook his head. “Everything is really fuzzy. I have no memories of yesterday at all, so I had to read through the group chat to remember even pieces of it.” He thought hard to try to remember anything else, but even the pieces he could recall were starting to feel like a faraway dream.</p><p>What happened today?” Jawn asked him. “Do you think it has something to do with last night?”</p><p>“Um, maybe,” he came off as more of a question than a statement. “I think it might help me make sense of what I saw.”</p><p>“What you <em> saw? </em>” Travis gaped. “What do you mean?”</p><p>He clutched the glass tightly in his hands. “I...um…think I saw ghosts?" he reluctantly admitted. "Or a really terrifying hallucination.”</p><p>His friends didn’t say anything. Either out of disbelief or fear, he couldn’t tell.</p><p>“Why did you stay over?” Awsten asked next. “What did we do last night? What...what happened to me?”</p><p>The guys looked at each other for a moment, silently communicating. Maybe debating whether or not to take him to a hospital.</p><p>Awsten looked back and forth between them.</p><p>"Please," he begged. "It might - it might help me make sense of what's going on." His eyes felt warm, and he blinked away the tears that threatened to pool.</p><p>He thought they weren’t going to tell him until finally, Travis shuffled forward and sat across from him at the table. </p><p>“Do you remember going to the tomb at all?”</p><p>“Not really. Maybe?” A sharp pain prickled in the center of his forehead again. “Just tell me everything. From the beginning.”</p><p>Travis began. “So you had texted us about seeing the tomb on the news. And insisted that we needed to go out at night before anyone else could get to it. We left here at around 9 p.m.”</p><p>He paused, waiting for Awsten to speak up.</p><p>“I do remember watching the video and sharing it with you guys a little bit,” he confirmed. “But keep going.” </p><p>Travis nodded. “When we found the tomb,” he said, “you started freaking out a bit. You kept saying you were cold and you had a bad feeling.”</p><p>“I feel like it’s my fault,” Jawn chimed in. “You were the first one scared in the group, so I dared you to go inside the tomb alone.”</p><p>The guys had agreed on one rule when they started paranormal hunting. Whoever started freaking out first would be given a dare and they would have to do it alone. Just to be dumb and cruel. Awsten had been the one to come up with it. </p><p>“It was kind of all of our faults,” Geoff added. “We egged you on, and we could tell you didn’t want to go in there.”</p><p>“But you did,” Travis said. “You were only supposed to be in there for a minute but…” he hesitated. </p><p>Awsten looked around the room when no one said anything. “But...what?”</p><p>“You didn’t come out right away, even after we told you it was okay.” Jawn said. “We had to call you a couple of times. Finally when you did, you bolted out of there like you were running from something. You wouldn’t look at us. Geoff at one point stared right at you face to face, but it was like you didn’t know we were there. And then you puked on his shoes.”</p><p>“I had to trash them, by the way,” Geoff added bitterly. “You owe me a new pair.”’</p><p>“You were shaking and cold all over,” Travis said. “You couldn’t even walk. We basically had to carry you out of the woods. We thought you were going into severe shock.”</p><p>“Or maybe you got really sick with something all of the sudden,” Otto said. “Since you were complaining about how cold you were.”</p><p>“You looked awful,” Travis confirmed. “We talked about bringing you to the hospital, but you sort of came to and kept saying ‘no hospital.’ So we took you home.”</p><p>That part made sense to him. Awsten hated hospitals. A couple years back he had to get surgery on his knee. He had to spend a full week in the hospital to recover. It had been a long, brutal week of lying in the hospital bed, his thoughts spiraling in the sheer boredom of it all. Before going into surgery, he had nightmares waking up in the middle of the surgery, watching the doctors slice into his legs while ignoring Awsten’s screams. While he recovered, he kept thinking about how creepy it is that doctors cut into him while he slept. He also thought about how many people died in the building. Died in surgery, or in their sleep, from heart failure, cancer, or other unexplained illnesses and occurrences. The paranoia had sunk in not long after that, afraid that they would find too late that something had gone wrong with the surgery, and they’d have to take sudden drastic measures to save his life, like saw his leg off. When he was finally released, he told himself that he’d have to be on his deathbed before he willingly went back to the hospital.</p><p>After this morning's events though, last night maybe should have been the exception to his rule.</p><p>“We were all pretty scared,” Jawn said. “That’s why we all stayed over to make sure you were okay. None of us could bear going home alone after that. When we woke up this morning and you were gone, we freaked out. And then you weren’t answering your phone and no one knew where you were….”</p><p>Awsten was silent for a long moment, trying to gather his thoughts. </p><p>“I...don’t remember any of that,” he began, slowly. “I want to tell you guys what I saw this morning, but….” He closed his eyes, feeling slightly frustrated. “I thought knowing what happened to me last night would help me make some sense of what happened to me this morning, but I’m even more confused now. I don't know what's going on with me.”</p><p>He decided then to tell them what happened to him this morning. Between his story and theirs, nothing made sense anyhow. Any bit of hope that he had left, thinking his friends wouldn't see him as a crazy lunatic was thrown out the window by the time he finished his story. By the end, everyone's faces had equally grown pale, and he couldn't help notice Otto and Jawn had backed up a bit, as if afraid to catch whatever disease Awsten had.</p><p>“Jesus,” Otto swore, quietly.</p><p>“That’s…” Geoff shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t even know what to say to that.”</p><p>“You’re telling me,” Awsten ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what to make of any of this. If I even had a shred of proof to offer you guys to show that I’m not lying I would. I don’t know if today and yesterday are connected at all. I just wish I had...<em> something </em> tangible to look at.”</p><p>“I do have one idea,” Jawn spoke up. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “I did take a bunch of pictures last night. I don’t know if they’ll help, but there could be something in there. I glanced at them myself last night, but I didn’t see anything weird.” He slid his phone over to Awsten.</p><p>Awsten took it and started slowly swiping through the photos. The first bunch were of them walking through the woods. Small, white orbs were in almost every shot. Ghost orbs, as mediums called them. They were the spirits of the dead, captured on film. More of them kept appearing in the photos, up until they arrived at the tomb. They stopped appearing altogether. That couldn’t have been coincidence.</p><p>Jawn had caught the photo of the tomb from an angle. Moonlight shone down on it, creating an almost glowing effect off the gray marble, sillouetting the tall thick trees around it. The tomb looked even creepier at night. He could tell, even by just the photograph, that he didn’t like it one bit.</p><p>“Do you remember anything?” Geoff asked.</p><p>Foggy memories started coming to the surface. “Kind of?” It was like trying to recall a vague dream. He remembered standing in front of the tomb, staring at its depths through the open doors. There was a sour smell of decay and mildew that emanated inside that had made him gag. </p><p>Awsten swiped to the next photo. Jawn took a shot of an inscription carved on the awning. The stone had cracked in between it, but the carving was still legible.</p><p>
  <em> Alcántara. </em>
</p><p>A chill ran down his spine. Wasn’t that what the old lady had said to him?</p><p><b>“</b>Do you guys know what <em> Alcántara </em>means?” he asked. </p><p>“Yeah, I looked it up,” Geoff said. “It means ‘bridge.’”</p><p>“But I didn’t think that made sense,” Travis added. “If this was a Spanish tomb, they would have believed in the Christian religion. Only Norse mythology had a bridge to the afterlife. I was thinking it might be a family name.”</p><p>“I don’t think that’s it,” Awsten said, abruptly.</p><p>“What do you think it is?” Otto asked.</p><p>Awsten sucked in a breath to explain, but paused. He didn’t know why he said that.</p><p> He continued swiping through the photos. One showed Awsten walking into the tomb. The next photo captured his terrified expression as he ran out.</p><p>Awsten didn’t recognize himself. He was as white as a sheet. His hair was damp and plastered to his forehead. He had a wild and crazed look in his eyes.</p><p>“Did you use a different filter on this?” Awsten asked.</p><p>“No,” Jawn said. “Why?”</p><p>“I just look…I don't know, I guess almost kind of see through?" </p><p>Jawn shrugged his shoulders. “It might just be because I caught you in motion.” He handed the phone back to him. Awsten zoomed in on his shoulder. It was hard to tell, but he felt like the more he stared at it, the more he could make out the details of the tomb <em>through</em> his shoulder. </p><p>He examined the inside of the tomb from the tiny glimpse the photo allowed. In the upper corner of the doorway was a shadow. A fuzzy, vague memory poked at his consciousness. He zoomed in on the spot.</p><p>“What are you looking for?” Travis asked.</p><p>“I don’t know…” Awsten mumbled. And then he spotted it. Awsten took a screenshot of the zoomed in photo, and began playing with the photo settings, brightening and enhancing it as much as he could. Until finally, the dark shape became a little clearer. It was a hooded, humanoid figure.</p><p>Travis watched from across the table. “What is that?”</p><p>“That’s not...is that a ghost?” Jawnn asked, sounding both scared and excited.</p><p>“No,” Awsten said with such certainty it surprised him.</p><p>“Then what is it?” Geoff asked.</p><p>“I think it’s -” Awsten began. Suddenly, pain exploded in the center of his forehead. He yelped, dropping the phone on the floor. He heard the guys call out to him. </p><p>The memories came flooding back to him.</p><p>He remembered walking in. He had walked into a spider web and shrieked. The guys had laughed at him, taunting him to walk in father. They didn’t let him have a flashlight in there. There had been a smell of animal decay that was so strong it made him retch. Plants had grown out of cracks in the stone flooring. Rusted urns, dusty crosses and moldy books filled the shelves on the wall. He had stepped on a shattered statue of Jesus wearing the Thorn crown. He recalled how cold it was too, which was strange since it was 85 degrees that night. It wasn’t like any kind of chill he had felt before either. It seeped through his skin, and clung to his bones. </p><p>There had also been no coffin inside.</p><p>He had hated it there. Every instinct screamed at him to run. He couldn’t leave though. The guys wouldn’t let him back out of it. Travis had counted down for him how many seconds he had left standing inside the tomb. Every time Travis called out, he sounded farther away. Awsten thought they were trying to leave without him. He started to leave but he tripped over the fallen rubble. And then, very suddenly, the whole room had grown dark. Awsten had thought he was passing out from fear until he heard a voice whisper to him.</p><p>
  <em> “Welcome.” </em>
</p><p>The darkness swirled and swelled in front of him until it gradually formed a person, wearing a hood to obscure its facial features. From his hands and knees, Awsten looked up at it. At <em>Them.</em> And then terror, pure, unfiltered and exquisite terror, flooded through him. It consumed every fiber of his mortal being, like drowning in a tidal wave. He didn’t have to ask who They were. He just knew. Their power that held Awsten down on his knees was proof enough. He was completely at Their mercy.</p><p>A pale, spider-like hand reached toward him through the darkness. Awsten was helpless as They took hold of his forehead in a death grip, covering his eyes. Their hands smelled of dirt and blood and filth.</p><p>As soon as They placed Their hands on him, a new feeling had begun to wash over him. It felt like jumping into a pool of ice cold water, and yet it sizzled and burned. It was powerful. Like the opposite of a baptism. Dark and wrong.</p><p><em> “Welcome, Knight of Alcántara...and rise,” </em>They spoke, in a deep ancient sounding accent. Their words reverberated in Awsten’s mind.</p><p>At last, They let go of him. Awsten collapsed, his entire weight smacking to the floor, weak and shaking.</p><p>He felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. </p><p>“Awsten? Awsten!” Geoff’s voice brought him back to the present. He was shaking Awsten’s shoulders.</p><p>Awsten looked at them, feeling dazed. His friends all wore varying expressions of worry.</p><p>“Shit,” Otto said, sounding scared. “Awsten, you look like fucking death.”</p><p>“I really think we should take you to the hospital,” Travis said. “You really don’t look well.”</p><p>“No!” Awsten protested. His head was pounding. He closed his eyes and he massaged his temples. “I just need a moment to think...I think...I remembered something.”</p><p>There was one last detail. He thought hard around his headache. </p><p><em>What...what did you do to me? </em> Awsten had asked Them. <em>Am...am I dead?</em></p><p><em>No,</em> They answered smoothly. <em>You are something else...entirely.</em> </p><p>He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice his jet black cat, who normally hides in the basement when his friends are over, had surfaced and jumped up onto the table, in full view of his friends. She purred and rubbed up against Awsten. It barely registered with him how unusual her behavior was. He looked down at her and scratched behind her ears. She leaned into his hand and stared up at him. Her green eyes were almost completely hidden by her enlarged pupils. She was fully content with him.</p><p>With what he was.</p><p>He picked up the phone off the ground and swiped back to the photo of himself exiting the tomb. His eyes flickered back and forth between the ominous figure hiding just out of sight in the shadows, to his own self, where the possible trick of the moonlight, or the timing of the flash made him appear translucent.</p><p>And these words kept echoing in the back of his mind.</p><p>
  <em>Something else entirely.</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The author enjoys librarian work and baking in her free time and will not, under any circumstances, write anymore fanfiction about real life people. This is a one time passion project. No one she knows in person wrote this, and no one ever will. Have a very spooky day.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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